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The first time Casey Jane Ellison took the stage as a stand-up comedian, things didn't go well. "I opened with, 'Don't worry, I'll lose the weight,'" she recalls. "And there was silence. It did not feel very good." That early attempt, at age 19, soured Ellison on comedy for a while. She instead turned her attention to art. (She has a degree in film, video and animation from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.) But even Ellison's art has funny bits. She's known for making eerie 3-D animated videos of herself reciting a litany of comedic lines in a range of voices — from mean girl to...

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The first time Casey Jane Ellison took the stage as a stand-up comedian, things didn't go well.
"I opened with, 'Don't worry, I'll lose the weight,'" she recalls. "And there was silence. It did not feel very good."
That early...

Comedian and co-executive producer of NBC's "Parks and Recreation," Harris Wittels, was found dead Thursday at his Los Angeles home, authorities said. He was 30.
Wittels' body was discovered by his assistant at 12 p.m. in the...

Grief-stricken Hollywood stars say Harris Wittels, the co-executive producer of NBC's "Parks and Recreation" who was found dead Thursday at his Los Angeles home, struggled with addiction.
Wittels, 30, was found at noon by his assistant...

On Wednesday, Fox confirmed that director Neill Blomkamp was at work on a new "Alien" sequel. And on "The Tonight Show," the queen alien-fighter herself, Sigourney Weaver, teased a possible tidbit about the film that would be as...

Jon Stewart plans to step aside as host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" later this year, ending a 16-year run that changed the way Americans view the news.
Stewart, 52, made the announcement at the end of his show Tuesday in New York....

Sarah Silverman was sitting in the lobby of her hotel with a bunch of dudes. She'd just met the guys, who all looked young and kind of star-struck, like they'd high-five one another after she left.
"OK, so I'll text you later," she said, waving...

When Stan Irwin was a struggling young comedian in New York, someone told him he should try out his act in Las Vegas.
"Where's that?" Irwin replied.
No matter: He signed on for an 11-day gig at a place called Club Bingo and stayed in town...

Before Wendy Williams became a fixture on daytime television with her syndicated gossipy talker she was airing out celebrities on the radio. She's made plenty of enemies, but "telling it like it is" has proved good for business. The sixth season...

He was the surly pizza man who interrupted a class at Ridgemont High to deliver a double-cheese-and-sausage to the cool-guy student played by Sean Penn.
He was the Olsen twins' prissy, Spanish-accented nanny, Manuelo, on "So Little Time." He...

Comic actor, writer and talk-show host Dennis Miller has listed his beach home in Carpinteria for $22.5 million.
Set on more than half an acre along 63 feet of sandy beach, the 6,320-square-foot home was designed by architect Don Nulty and built in 2001....

In the early 1990s, writer-director Jim Abrahams was making a big studio comedy about a mission to kill a foreign dictator — and not just any foreign dictator, one the United States had recently gone to war against: Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
The...

The holidays are a special time — that is to say, a time for specials. All over the television, the seasonal signifiers, the holly and the mistletoe, trees and lights, snowflakes and fake furs are dragged out of storage and gaily appended to sitcoms,...

Pauly Shore was signing autographs after a stand-up gig when the buxom, drunk brunette approached him.
"Remember?" she whispered into his ear.
He took a quick glance at her tattoos and her midriff, which was bare, but still did not recognize...

The American Film Institute announced Friday that comedian-actor-musician-writer-banjo player Steve Martin is the recipient of the 43rd AFI Life Achievement Award.
Previous winners of the prestigious honor include Jane Fonda, Mel Brooks, James Cagney,...

Jonas Gray is the newest star of the New England Patriots, thanks to his 199 rushing yards and four touchdowns against the Indianapolis Colts on "Sunday Night Football."
Going into the game, the former Notre Dame running back had just 132 yards...

Netflix has postponed its scheduled broadcast later this month of a stand-up comedy special starring Bill Cosby, the latest salvo fired against the comedian who has been accused by several women of rape and sexual assault.
The announcement by Netflix...

To the boomer generation, seeing Bob Hope on TV or in the movies was like spending time with cranky relatives. Sure, there were a lot of great memories — the World War II shows, the "Road" movies with Bing Crosby — but it also was a little...

Steaming bowls of pasta, a taco bar, jars overflowing with M&Ms and jelly beans — that's what Jena Malone remembers about being on a movie set as a kid. The food.
"I grew up like without any sort of fancy food. So I literally stuffed myself...

Skip E. Lowe, who hosted a weekly celebrity talk show in Los Angeles for more than 35 years, persuaded several well-known personalities to appear on the TV program, usually in the twilight of their careers.
But the ever-ebullient, sometimes befuddled...

It was easy for Maziar Bahari and Jon Stewart to laugh now.
They were sharing a table in the shade of oak trees at the annual film festival here, where their movie, "Rosewater," had just screened to five sellout audiences over Labor Day...